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My Top Five Most Desperate Teams in the NHL in 2013-14? |
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Since player movement rumors are my specialty, I spend a ton of time talking to people about which NHL teams are looking the most likely to be under the gun...and therefore most likely to take a chance and make a deal.
Here are my top 5
#5 Nashville.
The Preds have been the picture of consistency over the past several seasons, building slowly and solidly from within and surviving against all odds to turn Music City into HockeyTonk. Over the past few years the ownership has gone all in on a top tier goalie and a top tier d-man, only to suffer a setback last year due to injuries and lack of scoring up front. The pressure is now firmly on this team to get back into the playoffs and become a force. But take heart Preds fans, this kind of pressure is actually a good sign for the future. There should no longer anyone questioning if this is a hockey market, only if this is a good hockey team.
#4 Washington Capitals.
This is a team that earlier last year looked awful, then incredibly, finished 8-1-1 in the regular season...only to look terrible once again in the playoffs. And this is a team which was very strong for several years going into the lockout season. And now, they are no longer playing in what many felt to be the softest division in the Southeast and now have been thrusted into what many feel to be the toughest division: The Metropolitan. The Caps won't have ANY easy games in the division and when they do have an easy game it will be against a Metropolitan division team which likes to go down with a pound of flesh.
#3 Edmonton Oilers.
Unfortunately for one of my favorite people in hockey, Dallas Eakins, he wasn't hired three years ago when this team and city were OK with building a team. That does not exist anymore. This team needs to not only make the playoffs, but be in solid playoff position at the trade deadline to the point they are considered buyers and not sellers for a change.
#2. NY Rangers.
The Rangers have a serious year ahead of them. Torts is gone and with him go all excuses. Lundqvist isn't talking extension and that is akin to Sidney Crosby going into his final year as a question mark. This is a very good team in dire need of an identity and based on talent alone should be battling the Bruins and Penguins for the top of the Conference. If the Rangers are battling in the final week of the season and needing to win 1-0 games to squeak past the Blue Jackets for the 8th spot something is very wrong.
#1. Vancouver Canucks
When a team who has won President trophies and gotten to within a game of a Stanley Cup has its star players in the final year of their contract AND hires John Tortorella you really need not say much more about the level of desperation that exists. While anything can happen, it just feels like the Canucks are either going to be the BEST team in the West or not a factor. And as I have been fine tuning my predictions I still have no idea which way I am going...yet.